


Heart of Glass

by ballpoint



Category: Marvel 616, Young Avengers
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-23
Updated: 2011-01-23
Packaged: 2017-10-15 00:13:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,084
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/155040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ballpoint/pseuds/ballpoint
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Young Avengers, Kate/Eli, the date at the park went uninterrupted. It just takes Kate Bishop a little longer to get where she needs to be.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Heart of Glass

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lilpocketninja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilpocketninja/gifts).



> All characters and their respective trademarks belong to Marvel comics and Disney. No profit is being made from this, for entertainment purposes only.
> 
> Written for comment_fic over in LJ

"Who says that buds can't just cruise in a horse drawn carriage? Me and my boys do it all the time. Allll the time. This is how we roll." Eli's voice trailed off under the clip clop of horses' hooves striking against concrete.

Kate stared straight ahead, her arms folded under her breasts, wishing the ride was done.

By all rights, it should have been a magical night: the rainfall from earlier now gone, leaving the night breezes fresh; the scent of flowers on the wind, in the cab itself, a horse drawn carriage with uniformed whip. Kate knew that they had another hour on the clock.

She shouldn't have said yes. Even though she did, because she _wanted_ to. Even though she knew that Eli wanted to take what they were a step further. He didn't do casual, wouldn't do easy. Of _course_ he'd want them to _date_.

The stupid thing was, she wanted it too, but she just couldn't. Just _couldn't_ , because to say yes would change everything. Just when she got used to what she was, _whom_ she was, to say 'yes' would shift everything again within her.

 _"No", she had said earlier, her voice level, hands still. Kate knew how to school her features and voice into neutral dismissal. Recitals from an early age, with composure drilled into her by her mother and teachers to ward against nerves and emotion for the win._

 _But there was nothing to win here, just to protect._

Probably if she wished hard enough, there might be a central park ninja appearing from anywhere. Any time now would be good.

"You're right," Eli's head lowered, as he pinched the area between his eyes with his forefinger and his thumb. "It's a stupid idea. You're smart, always smart. I'm sor-"

Not a lot to do in this situation, but to comfort, to let him down easy, and keep on pretending that it didn't hurt to say no; to keep herself safe.

"No- don't apologise, Eli, you don't have to-" she began, because comforting was easy, because Kate couldn't stand to see people hurt. His thigh hard and warm underneath her fingers, through his slacks, and Kate shrugged off and barrelled on.

"No apologies, okay? You're super great," she rabbited on, because to stop would be the end. "And--"

He was close. There, like, in her space, in her face. And they'd never been this close before; not so near to each other for her pick up the hints of cologne -Teddy's _Blue Water_ \- layered over deodorant and soap, and the clean starch of his suit. Not so _intimate_ for her to realise that his eyes were dark brown around the irises. The air in the carriage caused her cheeks to flush, as well as that tickle in the back of her throat that might be the edge of hysteria.

Instinct drew the walls in and around her, made her push out and away.

"You did not try to kiss me," Kate threw her hands up and moved to the other side of the carriage.

"Kate-"

"Oh no, you did not."

"Kate, I-"

"I said no, Eli. I said _no_. No to dating, no to - _this_. I mean't 'no', and you just kept coming _anyway_ , like some sort of-" Kate gave herself over to temper, because in this, she was safe, and if push came to shove, she could fight.

"I'm sorry, okay?" Eli threw up the bouquet of flowers in front of him like a shield, as if the clutch of pastel coloured carnations would protect him from anything - only if his assailant had allergies to mixed purple cut carnations. "I never meant-"

"Is everything all right back there?" The slowing of the horse's hooves, and their surroundings stopped moving past them, and stilled around them.

Oh great. "We're fine," she said.

"Are you okay to get home?"

"Say what now?" Kate swung around to Eli, forgetting the whip's presence. "What do you-?"

"I'm asking," Eli repeated, a tremor at the edge of his voice. "Are you okay to get home from here?"

"Eli, c'mon, just let's just finish the carriage ride, okay? Don't let it end like this." Kate shook her head, as she clenched her fists, her nails pressing into her palms.

"This date-"

"It's not a date."

"This 'not a date'," Eli repeated, his voice taking on the same tones of desperation that she just had, and Kate flinched, "is done."

"Eli-" Kate reached out, but he was already half way out of the carriage, tugging at his tie, running towards the curb that opened into traffic, and Kate jumped out and ran after him. "Can't we just be fr-?"

"No," Eli half turned, the hem of his jacket lifted by the wind of the motion, his finger jabbing at the air between them. "Just - don't say it, okay? Just - don't. I'll see you tomorrow at the club house, I'm out."

Kate stood at the curb, watching him as he jaywalked, dodging oncoming cars with ease, as he crossed the road and disappeared into the crowds.

A minute later, she turned and walked to the coach, the whip and his horse still there. Kate scrambled in, her eyes catching the bunch of carnations as they were thrown to the far edge of the seat. Taking a breath, she picked up the flowers and sniffed. Before placing them on the coach beside her.

"Ma'am? you still have thirty minutes left on the clock. Do you want to-?"

"I'm sorry that we caused such a scene," Kate drew on the niceties her mother instilled in her. By the time she smoothed her hair in place, tugged at her top, and picked up the bouquet of flowers again, she was calm and in control. "Carry on, please."

* * *

"This has got to stop," Teddy groused, as he tapped away at his keyboard.

"Hmm?" Billy answered absently. Both of them were seated at the kitchen table, Billy scribbling down solutions to Math problems, before flipping over to look at the answers. "I need to study for the SATs prep; my mom'll kill me if I don't get a good Math score."

Teddy rolled his eyes at his boyfriend. "No, I mean Kate and Eli. They're acting...weird."

"Sky's blue, water's wet, yes, my Rabbi is Jewish. This is the sound of one hand clapping-" Billy paused to demonstrate with his free hand, getting a half muffled slap of skin, before he continued with his litany, not even raising his gaze from his text, "What goes up; must come down."

Teddy waved away Billy's points, refusing to laugh, although the sound of one hand clapping might have been amusing. "You're all heart. Isn't your mom the shrink? Wouldn't she have stuff to say about this?"

"You mean something along the lines of, 'What we have here, is a failure to communicate'?"

Kate walked into the kitchen, scooped out a tray of fruit yoghurt from the fridge and walked out again. "Hey, guys," she waved before shutting the door.

"Hey, Kate," they chorused, Billy now whipping out his calculator and frowning at his answer, before spinning to the back of the book, brightening at the answer.

"I am the Math king! Fear me." Billy crowed, only to sober when he saw Teddy's face. "You do not find my Math prowess hot?"

"You're always hot, Math nerd or no," Teddy reached over and brushed his fingers across Billy's knuckles. "But our friends are hurting."

"They have to come to their own choices," Billy said after a while, as he turned over his hand to catch Teddy's fingers and link them with his own. "Well meaning as we are, we might only make it worse if they aren't ready to talk. It doesn't help that crime's taking a - a time out."

"Oy." Teddy sighed, because it was true.

* * *

Seven days later, and the relationship between herself and Eli had yet to thaw. Despite that though, they still worked well together, him throwing his shield at the legs of those perps robbing a bank, and her trick arrows encasing them in nets, so that they were tangled like fish trawled and thrown together.

"We did great," Cassie rubbed at her hair before slipping her sweater on. "Especially you, Hawkeye."

"You're no slouch yourself," Kate dragged on her sweat bottoms and sneakers. "You're getting faster, and your instincts are solid. If you have time we could go through a replay?"

"I wish," Cassie sighed, as she hitched her knapsack onto her shoulder. "But I promised my mom that I'd get dinner today. If we're going to be on the local news, I need to make sure that it's done."

Kate could appreciate a good strategy, no matter the circumstance. "Understood."

"But I'll be here tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay."

With a grin, Cassie gave her a quick hug and ran out of the room; Kate heard her footfalls on the stairs, the quick 'bloop bleep' of the passcode before let herself out and slammed the door. Not for the first time, Kate thought about Cassies' sun bright hair, quick grin and how _easy_ she was to be around. Not like other people, she groused as she tripped up the stairs to the roof, only to see Tommy there, his fists at his sides as he looked over their part of the city. At her first step on the gravel, he turned to her, a smile on his lips, a shade of question in his eyes.

"Hey." Tommy greeted, his voice filled with just a little too much interest.

"Sorry to bother you."

"You're hot, it's no bother." Tommy appeared at her side, just a little too close, his hand draped around her waist. Kate stepped back, and walked around.

"Thanks," she peered at him under lowered lashes. "I think."

"You are primo, I can see why Eli is so hung up."

"Eli is-"

"Still smarting that you told him no?"

"Can't anyone on this team keep a secret?" Kate groused, as she folded her arms across her chest. "That's between Eli and me."

"Sorry," Tommy shrugged his shoulders and turned his palms upward in an 'oops' position, and Kate knew that he wasn't sorry at all. But the atmosphere in the club house was a bit too oppressive, and Kate trudged towards the bench Eli and Teddy found abandoned in a park and deposited on the roof.

"It's fine." Kate sat down, as she looked out at the lights below them, the grid of the streets, the people walking in groups. Nothing bad would happen on her watch, because she was a Young Avenger. Only for her thoughts to vanish as she wrinkled her nose at smell of alcohol.

"Here," Tommy handed her a bottle - chilled- so he must have gone downstairs and come back up in record time. How fast was he, anyway? She sniffed it, mollified at finding the cap untampered, and she screwed it off, breaking the seal before taking a sip.

"That is -" Kate fanned her face. Her tongue tingled, burned then tingled again. Her face hot and flushed at the scald of ginger and alcohol, warmed by the mulled spices.

"Ginger beer - alcoholic style."

"This is good," Kate admitted grudgingly. Not that she went around knocking back aperitifs at any given minute, but this was very good. Sweet, cold but with a bit of a burn. "Where did you get this?"

"If I told you, I'd have to kill you." Tommy smiled, falling back on that old chestnut. It might have been the warmth, or the drink or the company, or all three. Whatever the singular elements or the combination of all three, Kate found herself smiling back.

"So what happened? Why are you and Eli on the outs?"

Kate leaned back, resting her head against the top of the former park bench. "He asked me on a date," she said.

Tommy nodded, as if her answer was the secret of truth and light. So solemn, to the point of it almost being comical. "Scratch that for me, then. Never ask Kate Bishop on a date."

Kate laughed, and it sounded rusty, as if she hadn't done it for a while. "He bought me flowers."

"Off with his head," Tommy inched closer to her, his hair silver in the dim light, his eyes light. Kate wasn't surprised when Tommy closed the distance to kiss her, and she accepted it. Hoping that it would be the same - or almost the same. She could live with _almost_ if it came with casual and easy. Tommy was good, his fingers touching her chin, his other hand at the nape of her neck, the kiss tasting of ginger and heat, only for her to draw back, as she pushed him away.

"Well, that answers my question." Tommy commented, not repentant at all.

"Oh?" Kate answered, putting all the chill she could muster into that one word, but Tommy had no shame.

"You went on a date, he bought you flowers. Like it or not, Kate, you're resistant to my charms, so it means-"

"That you aren't that charming?"

Tommy lazily tucked a loose lock of Kate's hair behind her ear, Kate's barbed comment bouncing off the forcefield of his ego. "It means that you shouldn't be sitting up here, guzzling my good beer."

* * *

Kate suffered through the next school day, an eye on the clock as time seemed to drag on leaden weights, and when she finally put her cello away after practising for the requisite ninety minutes, after school hours, she ran for the exits.

She got to the HQ just in time to see the others sitting down to a meal, carton boxes arranged on the table, and in a nod to Cassie's sensibilities, plates and forks arranged as well. "Jarvis did it like so," she'd say, and no one dared argue.

"Hey, guys," Kate greeted, as she sat down, next to Eli, because that's the only space which was available. "What's our poison?"

"Everything," Billy waved his chopsticks in the air. "TGIF special - chicken dishes half price. Sweet 'n sour?"

"Yeah," Kate grinned, only for it to falter as Eli passed her a plate, still oven warmed.

"Hey, listen," Billy did some hocus pocus and deposited the rest of the meals on the various plates as they levitated and zoomed towards the living room. "We ahh... need to leave you guys to come up with strategy."

"Strategy?" Eli parroted, frowning as Tommy and Jonas already zoomed off into the vicinity of the room, with Teddy halfway through the door.

"Yeah, you know, since you two haven't been in the same room for so long."

"Cassandra Arnold Benedict Lang." Kate hissed.

"I'll save some crispy fried wong tongs," Cassie waved. "Bye."

Before Kate could voice her objections, the room cleared out, just leaving Eli and her behind, their hands still on the plate, when Eli let it go. "Your plate," he said.

"Thanks," Kate took the plate and placed it on the table in front of her. "But they've taken all the food."

"I think they mean to starve us until we start talking to each other." Eli observed.

"I can hold out."

"I can't."

The joke that Kate was going to make faltered on her lips. It was the first time in weeks that they were in the same room for two minutes - apart from strategy or their version of debriefing. Kate slipped her hand in her jacket and came up with her smart phone, as she thumbed through her contracts. "There's this gourmet place that does home delivery, even in the sticks, and we can get a picnic hamper in twenty minutes," she began, only for Eli to place his hand on her wrist.

"Stop," he said. "Just stop."

"Eli-"

"I've kept my distance, and will do until you're comfortable and say otherwise. But we have to make sure that it doesn't affect the team."

"Eli," Kate raised her gaze to his, hurt by the fact that they'd gotten to this point. "It's - I'm not uncomfortable around you. That's _so_ not what I meant, at all."

"Kate, we _are_ uncomfortable, and everything that you didn't want that night, it's happening now." Eli drew his hand away, taking his warmth with it. "You ought to have your own physic line, or something. Call 1-800 Kate the clairvoyant or whatever."

"It's not you," Kate turned to him, seeing him for the first time that night. "It's - " she dipped her head, her hair falling around her face and shoulders before she lifted her head again, and combed it back from her face with her fingers. Unable to find the words, she plumped for an out: "You're sure you don't want to try this hamper service? Organic casseroles followed up with proper cream cheesecake, organic cream cheese from a private diary just upstate. It beats the MSG bombs the others are scarfing down."

A beat of silence after this, as they both stared at each other. Kate hoping that he'd find the words, make the first move like he always had, because all she had to do was _react_. Keep her guard up, take only what she could afford to reciprocate, and no more.

 _Please_ , Kate begged inwardly. _Don't leave me hanging._

"There are lots of takeaways nearby, I'll get something on my way home. Tell the others I'll see them tomorrow.Good bye, Kate." Eli pushed his chair away and got up. Kate sprang out of her chair, as she grabbed him by the sleeve of his jacket.

Eli stopped, and before he could react, Kate jumped into his space, anchored his face in her palms and kissed him. She squeezed her eyes shut, scrambled against him, feeling him heave her against him, and Kate pressed her lips against his until he let her in. Surprise, shock, want and acceptance right there. Kate leaned back, still on her tip toes, still seeing the shock and confusion on his face. "I-" she cleared her throat, her eyes on his, her cheeks flushed with the exertion that this took. "Give me time, okay?" she stroked his cheeks with her thumbs. "I -Just give me time."

"Okay," Eli smiled; and the world was right again, as he laid his hand against hers, anchoring her hands to his cheeks. "I'm not going anywhere."

"I am," Kate smiled back, glad for them to be were they were before - and then some. "Cassie owes me some crispy wong tongs."

Fin.


End file.
